Dave_McMinn

Renee, I have got 8 new show birds in 6 days. i am going to a sale on Saturday where who knows what may happen. I am running out of quarantine spaces - LOL

I bought some new birds in advance of Saturday. 3 hens and 1 cock. All are 08 birds, except cock, who is an 07 bird, though the breeder I got him from said he was born very late in the year, so he could have almost been an 08 bird. Anyway, here are some pics Green spangle opaline cock Albino Hen Sky Blue Opaline Spangle hen Grey Green Opaline Spangle Hen Some Pairs and Groups

She is an opaline sky blue yellow faced 2 spangle. As she ages, her sky blue will turn green. The yellow in the wing and tail feathers gives it away

well done deb, all this in such a short period of time.

one of my males used to do it a lot in a breeding cage. he would hang onto the perch, then flap like crazy. Best way to stretch and exercise the wings.

great news on the eggs. I love these posts. This pair look good, and you never really know what you are going to end up with. Or do you? Pop is a sky blue dominant pied. he split to anything? He fathered any cinnamon's, or albinos?

Thank you, very kind.

no no, Neat had nothing to do with it - :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

i agree with what has been said so far - get him a firend, do the quarnatine thing in another room, and whilst you are doing the quarnatine thng, train the other bird. he may not get as good as Billy, but bond with him too, so the first thing he does is bond with you. Getting a male is a good idea as well. no matter what you do, a female and male pairing will eventually want to mate. now, it is impossible to create a "nest free" home as they will try and lay eggs anywhere that is "secure" so they may begin to totally ignore their play areas and look for nesting sites. I rehomed 2 birds that were doing that very thing. Anyway, good luck with it and keep us all posted.

A blue ring on his foot means that he is not 2 years old. A blue metallic ring means that Bluey was actually born in 2004. so he is 4, not 2.

I had a similar thing where Sebby, my bossiest femle escaped in my double garage and went flying around. tess, my youngest Cairn Terrier caught her in her mouth and was running with her to the door to get outside to go and eat her - no doubt in my mind Tess would eat her, she was not taking her for a walk. I told Tess no, and tapped her on the head with the bird net (Tess was behind a 1 metre lattice work fence) and she dropped Sebby. Sebby hooped up, through the fence, flew about 1 metre, trying to hide amongst some stuff and I caught her by hand. Cheked her over, and returned her to her cage. Tess would have eaten her, no doubt, i was lucky. I do not want to try that again.

I sure you coffee would end up with "extra flavour" Elly. I suggest sitting in front and watching, and I love doing that.

shame, he is an awesome looking boy. maybe he will click with another hen at another time..... sounds stupid to say, but maybe you found the first male who was having trouble getting in the mood

Thanks Elly and Jodie. I do like the different colours. Well, today is was so hot, I decided to cool my aviary down with a spray of the hose, on a mist setting of course. Here are some shots. I will name the birds, so previosu owners can see their loved ones. Big Bird (one called Boof by Missylu) Tam (her owners are on a 9 month sailing adventure) The youngest coupling in the aviary - Geo the Journeyman with Gabrielle (Pale Ale). If these 2 had kids, imagine the stories they could tell their kids on their lives. Hose Me!!! Said Nibbler, no me, said Lego Boof - soaked Pegasis - soaked Aphrodite "New pin feathers hurt!!!" Gabrielle and Aphrodite - Pale Ale is now fully grown!! Bette - the boss of all below her - hey look, someone's eating, it is true!!!! Punchy and Lego - always together, will breed at the first chance given.

Today was the day of the great budgie swap. Turns out that all up today, it was about a 400km drive, but I was home by about 12:30, so it was not too bad. I swapped 9 budgies (all pet types) for 4 show type budgies. I was originally going for 10, but in the end, I could not tell the difference between Macaroni and Cheese - they are identical. I captured one, thought I had it right, but then Sebby reacted badly. I put him back in the aviary, but it was still hard to tell who was who. Safer to go with 9. Deb and I had agreed that 9 was okay anyway. Had an issue getting one bird - Kelani - out of the carry box and into the cage I was going to take up there. She slipped out of my hands in the garage and took off flying around my garage. I shooed my dogs out, closed the door, and managed to catch her quickly after about a minute. Sense of Deja Vu actually as Kelani's mother, Sebby, has escaped once in the garage, got caught by one of my dogs, but I was able to save her and return her unharmed to her cage. No dog this time, just a great escape. Anyway, drove to Deb's place. It was like driving in an aviary. Constant chatter, the occasional fight, but really pretty good. The back held up well. I got to see Deb's new setup. They have done a great job with the new aviary, and of course, her children are delightful. We swapped the birds over, chatted some more, then I drove home. I took the birds out of the car, set up their temporary cage, and took some photos. Here we go The Grey-Green Opaline spangle will retain the name Midori The grey opalines are called Earl (as in earl Grey tea) and Cino (after a Capuccino) The opaline cinnamon wing grey has been renamed from Bailey (I have a nephew named that) to Tia (form the drink Tia Maria) The drive home was good too, but Tia is one of the loudest budgies I have ever had the pleasure of being trapped in a car on a 200km drive with - LOL Deb told me that Kelani had gotten out up there, after seeing a gap and hitting the hole very fast. She was in an enclosed area, so she was re-caught, but she was the hardest one for me to catch in the aviary, and now Deb knows why. I am very very lucky. Thank you so much Deb. Dave

I am not Kaz, as you well know, but I can answer some of the questions you had. There are multiple places where you can buy the cages from. Yes, there are some on me-bay. I bought similar cages from JJ Aviaries, who is located near Penrith in Sydney, but you can view his website if you do a search for JJ Aviaries. If you mean attach the nest boxes, you can insert some screw hooks and it hangs on the outside. There is a large door on these cages, so you do not have to cut away any wire. This means that the nestboxes do nto need to remain attached 100% of the time. I am sure Kaz will correct me if I am wrong.

I love spangles and your birds look amazing.

relativity

quarantine was one of the reasons the number is 10. I only have 4 new birds to quarantine, so that is easy. Harder for Deb, but it works the same way as it did when quarantine was done last time I gave her 4 birds. I will give them all a drop of ivermectin when i get them out, so that will mean that Deb only needs to do the "in the water methods"

Yellow face type 2 mauve recessive pied.

Very interested to see how this goes Renee

I think it is. I get some wonderful birds, deb gets some more birds, I have some more room in my aviary, and the special pet ones with a history with me stay

These are the birds we are swapping. The 10 from me are Gwenevieve Romeo Jr - actually I think the first picture is Mel, but they are identical except Mel is female to Jr's male Brewster and Kealani Macaroni Mozarella Marco Paulo Ozzie (left) and Kaui (right) Mel I am quite happy to trade these birds. Some are moulting a little, so do not look at their best, but Deb will provide them a great home, and I get some great birds. I am a lucky guy.

I was going to ask at what age you leg rung them.

great big balls of fluffy feathers - you have to love that!!!!!!